


Shine My Light On You

by Jingle



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, Interspecies Relationship(s), Panic Attacks, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 22:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6169525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jingle/pseuds/Jingle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anon at the Disney Kink Meme asked for "Judy talking Nick down from a panic/trigger attack.". This story contains MAJOR SPOILERS.</p><p>Emotional h/c with attempts at humor towards the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shine My Light On You

Long before she met Nick, Judy had hated that muzzles even _existed_. As a child, she’d thought that, sure, it would be _nice_ to see Gideon in one, but it went against her basic beliefs in freedom. You couldn’t have a world where anyone could be anything if some animals were being silenced and stifled.

Granted, the _accepted_ use for a muzzle was by parents with particularly problematic teething children – generally this occurred with animals in the canine family. And even this accepted use was considered old fashioned, and for the most part, it was going out of style.

So when the Flockbusters down the street from her apartment closed down, she hadn’t expected it to be replaced with a store selling muzzles and other disciplinary items that were, in Judy’s opinion, outdated and just plain _awful_.

Of course, her first thought when the shop had opened had been of Nick, and since then she’d been careful to make sure all of their dates and even their routes for work avoided going by said store. It was working… For a while.

They were on a high-speed chase after a (literal) cat burglar had broken into the Museum of History and stolen some very rare – and thus, very valuable - fossils. In the heat of something like that, it was hard for Judy to remember the store. In fact, she didn’t even realize that they were across the street from it when the cat they were chasing finally pulled over.

Judy was quick to act, as usual, leaping on the feline and cuffing her. “Selina Kyle, you are under arrest! Officer Wilde, if you please?” Judy knew Nick loved getting to rattle off the Miranda Rights to the criminals they captured. Really, she knew he loved hearing himself talk. But Nick… Didn’t say a word. Judy’s nose gave a worried twitch and, her hands still tight on the cuffs, she glanced over at her partner.

Nick was staring across the street, between the two cars to that horrid shop where a display of muzzles sat prominently in the window. His mouth hung open slightly and his chest was heaving. Judy groaned inwardly. How could she have forgotten? She felt awful. That didn’t change the fact that she was on the clock, of course, so she rushed to get Selina locked in the backseat of the cop car before she went to Nick’s side.

“Nick…”

When she spoke, it seemed to snap Nick out of his trance, but not for the better. He gave a start and clasped a paw to his chest, his breath becoming even more ragged. Judy knew exactly what was going through his mind. He was reliving his ‘initiation’. It made Judy’s blood boil when she thought about what the other kids had done to Nick, but she knew right now he needed someone calm and comforting.

“Oh, God…” Nick murmured, taking a shaky step backward. “I can’t, I can’t… Oh, God…”

“Nick, you’re hyperventilating,” Judy pointed out, raising a paw to gently cover Nick’s and give it a squeeze. His eyes darted down to meet hers, and it hurt her to see his desperate expression. “You have to try to slow down your breathing.”

Nick blinked hard once, then shook his head. Alright, so this wasn’t going to be easy. She hadn’t really expected it to be, nor did she ever have a problem with difficult situations. It was just so unfair that Nick had to deal with this in the first place.

“Nick, you can do it. Just… Just close your eyes, okay? Close your eyes and take deep breaths.” He did close his eyes, and clearly _attempted_ to breath in deeply, but then a series of shallow and shaky exhales followed, and soon he was panting again. “Nick, sweetheart – No, you have to keep your eyes closed. Just listen to me. You’re okay. You _can_ breathe, so you don’t have to worry about that. Just try to slow it down if you can. I’m going to lead you to the car, okay?” Nick nodded, and Judy moved her paw from the one on his chest to his other, and guided him to the passenger’s seat. She climbed across his lap to get in her own seat. “Now, keep your eyes closed. I’m just going to drive a little bit, okay, I’m just going to drive until it’s gone.” She kept her voice smooth and soft. Selina, who had been slouching in the back, sat up curiously.

“What’s going on?”

“Miss Kyle, I strongly recommend you take advantage of your right to remain silent,” Judy said sharply, glancing at the cat in the rear-view mirror. Selina rolled her eyes, but quieted down and went back to slouching.

Judy pulled into a parking lot about a block away, then looked at a still-wheezing Nick. “Okay, you can open your eyes.” He did so, and the terrified look in them let her know he still wasn’t doing well at all. “Nick, I am _so sorry_. I’ve been trying to make sure you didn’t see… Maybe that was stupid of me. We could have talked it out and avoided this.” Not that Nick would have been easy to get to ‘talk it out’, but it _would_ have happened eventually, Judy was sure of that. “Look, just keep breathing… Oh!” Judy grabbed the paper bag their lunches had come in from the glove compartment, and handed it to Nick. “Here, breathe into this.” Nick did so, and soon his breathing began to slow down. “You’re okay. What happened to you, it was awful, but it’s over now. I _promise_ I will not let anyone treat you like that again, okay? You just keep breathing, Nick. You’re going to be fine.”

Nick gave a slow nod, and eventually removed the bag from his snout to say, “Thanks, Carrots.”

“Are you alright? Do you want to see if you can get the rest of the day off?”

“I’m, uh… I’m shaky, but I’ll be okay.”

“Really?”

“Honestly, Judy,” Nick said, with a rare vulnerability to his tone, “I’d much rather stick with you.”

“You got it, then.” Judy smiled at him, and Nick heaved a deep sigh of relief as he smiled back.

In the back of the car, Selina hissed in disgust. “I’m about to hack up a hairball back here.” Nick looked over his shoulder at the ’cuffed cat, then back to Judy.

“If I suggested we gag her, would I be a hypocrite?"

"I'd say so," Judy responded, shaking her head.

"Hey, you know you - "

"- love me? You're getting predictable," Judy teased.

"Actually, I was going to say, 'You know you were thinking it'. But I guess you can know more than one thing."


End file.
